Services and manufacturing activities across emerging markets remained lacklustre in September, with India posting the third successive drop in private sector output and the fastest decline since March 2009, an HSBC survey said today.

The HSBC Emerging Markets Index (EMI), a monthly indicator derived from the PMI surveys, remained only just above the neutral threshold of 50.0 in September, signalling muted output growth in emerging markets.

Among the BRIC countries, China registered only a modest rise in output in September, with manufacturing again weighing on overall growth, HSBC said.

India, however, posted a third successive drop in activity and the fastest decline since March 2009, reflecting weakness in the services sector, HSBC said.

The HSBC composite manufacturing and services PMI for Brazil increased in September to 50.7 from 49.7 in August.

The HSBC composite manufacturing and services PMI for China declined in September to 51.2 from 51.8 the previous month, for India it declined to 46.1 in September from 47.6 in August, and for Russia (to 51.2 from 51.4).

An index measure of above 50 indicates expansion.

According to the report, the new business growth across emerging markets remained weak in September, and the level of outstanding business continued to fall.

The level of employment across manufacturing and services stabilised, following a two-month period of job shedding.

"The September PMIs show economic conditions in emerging markets are showing marginal improvement, although the data remains disappointing overall," HSBC Global Head of Emerging Markets Research Pablo Goldberg said.

Meanwhile, according to the HSBC Emerging Markets Future Output Index that tracks firms' expectations for activity in 12 months' time, output expectations moderated in the four largest emerging markets, with China posting the weakest sentiment followed by India, Russia and Brazil, respectively.